In recent years, renewable energy, in particular, photovoltaic solar energy, has been gaining more attention and has been applied on a large scale in regions such as Europe, North America, and Asia. A typical photovoltaic power generation system converts solar energy into direct current with specific voltage and current by connecting one or more photovoltaic panels in series or in parallel, and then converts the direct current into alternating current using a photovoltaic inverter, and transmits the alternating current to a power grid such that solar energy is converted into energy in the power grid. In an acceptable range of insulation, voltage of direct current output by the panels is generally increased by connecting the panels in series. In this way, larger power can be output in a case of same current (cable diameter), to reduce system costs. Currently, in three-phase grid-connected solar power generation systems that are used on a large scale, maximum voltage output by the serially connected panels is up to 1000 volts (V), and panels whose withstand capacity is 1500 V have been launched. In this case, system costs are expected to be further reduced. However, as voltage output by the panels increases, a higher requirement has been imposed on performance of a switch semiconductor device in a power conversion part of an inverter. Currently, for a mainstream power semiconductor device, switching loss characteristics are relatively good when withstand voltage is less than 1200 V, and relatively ideal conversion efficiency can be achieved in a case of relatively high switching frequency. A size and weight of a filter circuit can be reduced in a case of relatively high switching frequency. This facilitates system miniaturization.
To reduce a size and weight of a filter part of an inverter, multi-level converters that are applied to the high-voltage and high power field have gained great attention in the power electronics industry. Because of a limitation on a voltage capacity of a power electronic device, a conventional bi-level frequency converter usually obtains high voltage and high power in a “high-to-low-to-high” manner by decreasing and increasing voltage using a transformer, or obtains high voltage and high power by connecting multiple small-capacity inverter units in series by means of multiple windings in a multi-winding transformer. This reduces system efficiency and reliability.